1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates generally to cannons and firearms, more particularly to a method of firing projectiles there from, and an apparatus that realizes the method.
2. Background Art
Nearly all firearms used today are engineered according to the basic design solutions developed decades ago. Major small arms developers' product lines are based on such generic-design firearms manufactured only with some cosmetic modifications or minor structural changes most of which do not make any significant improvements to the firearm's core functional features. An example of such a generic design developed nearly a century ago is the Colt Model 1911 pistol, which has also been used as a template for a number of other commercial models. As a result, today's firearms have inherited such functional weaknesses as poor accuracy of shooting due to large projectile dispersion (often as a result of a trade-off for reliability), significant recoil, especially when used with high-energy ammunition, and complicated design.
Most presently used small arms feature a barrel with a cartridge chamber and a breech block, which closes or locks the chamber to prevent gas escape therefrom during firing. In designs with the barrel immovably affixed to the firearm's frame, a reaction force created due to propelling a projectile along the barrel bore acts backward upon the breech block and rotates the firearm around its center of mass. This produces a significant angle between the axis line of the barrel bore immediately prior to firing and at the moment the projectile leaves the muzzle, referred to as the angle of departure, which is a major contributing factor to projectile dispersion and hence inaccuracy of shooting.
In firearms with a movable barrel, the reaction force moves the breech block, interlocked with the barrel, backward during firing. This design introduces yet another factor contributing to large projectile dispersion—tolerance levels between the barrel and the frame. Since tolerances of moving parts are usually in an inverse relationship with product's reliability and its cost to manufacture, most modern firearms' reliability comes at the expense of their accuracy.
The concept of a movable chamber (also referred to as the floating chamber) introduced at the beginning of the 20th century suggested some usage of the reaction force, an example of which was disclosed by David Williams in U.S. Pat. No. 2,090,657 where a small-caliber ammunition's energy is distributed to propel a projectile and move a heavy breech block with a movable chamber. Although the movable-chamber concept suggested superior accuracy firearm designs due to the opportunity to controllably use the reaction force to move the chamber and keep the barrel undisturbed and stable during firing, such firearms showed little or no improvement in projectile dispersion. The problem of unsatisfactory dispersion stems from the following: Upon firing a cartridge, the reaction force moves the chamber with a cartridge case therein backward exposing the breech end of the barrel to the high-pressure gas from the deflagrating propellant. Since the gas-pressure force acting upon the breech end of the barrel is uncompensated, it displaces the barrel forward and around the firearm's center of mass producing a tangible angle of departure and resulting in projectile dispersion proportional to the ammunition energy, its caliber, friction of the projectile against the wall of the barrel bore, and the area of the breech end of the barrel. Prior art designs show no evidence of any successful solutions to this problem. Against the foregoing background, the present invention was developed.